


from the ground up.

by silhouette (thiefless)



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Aged-Up Peter Parker, FTM Tony, Female Tony Stark, Howard Stark's A+ Parenting, James "Rhodey" Rhodes & Tony Stark Friendship, M/M, Protective Peter Parker, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Trans Male Character, Trans Tony Stark
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-20
Updated: 2020-05-20
Packaged: 2021-03-02 22:13:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 797
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24294163
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thiefless/pseuds/silhouette
Summary: “A girl would be nice. Less of a chance she'd turn out exactly like me.”Antonia Stark was born to Howard and Maria Stark on Friday, May 29, 1970 at 5:33pm.
Relationships: Peter Parker/Tony Stark
Comments: 2
Kudos: 100





	from the ground up.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, guys. This idea has been in my head for ages, and I finally got around to writing it. I hope I've done it justice! :)

Antonia Stark was born to Howard and Maria Stark on Friday, May 29, 1970 at 5:33pm. Kicking and screaming all the way.

(Then again: what else was new?)

* * *

Toni never felt certain in who she was. All her life, her identity came as a direct consequence of her father – often fluctuating in accordance with his attitude and beliefs. All the comparisons between them (“You are your father's daughter, alright.”) and all the many ways in which Toni rallied against their words, fighting against the chains that bound her in her father's likeness. 

_I don't want to be like him_ , Toni cried into the nothingness. _I want to be like me._

Scratch that: _I want to be like **Tony**_. 

* * *

MIT provided a welcome respite from the judgements and preconceived notions of just who she was, who she was meant to be as ordained by **society** and bestowed upon her like Howard Stark's hand-me-downs.

Toni stole Rhodey's clothes sometimes, when he wasn't looking – more often than not, when he was too. 

Rhodey didn't care. And, in a world where her father lectured her on the importance of maintaining her femininity, her best friend's acceptance of who she **was** meant _everything_.

* * *

Toni was twenty-one and her parents were dead, and with them so fell the last of her restraint. 

It was the eve of her parents' funeral, and Toni wanted _out_ of her body. Nails raked down porcelain skin, biting into the soft flesh and spilling the blood that remained. Insects wriggled beneath the epidermis, itsy-bitsy spiders and arachnids crawling in her eye sockets, sinking below the below the body to feast on the mind.

Because this... this wasn't her body. Social conditioning and biological determinism failed to manipulate her into society's role of **The Perfect Woman.**

Except – Toni wasn't a woman, and it was high time she stopped performing for the freak show.

* * *

Tony was twenty-one, and his parents were dead. 

Now, see, it was imperative that Tony was the best. Better than all the rest who preceded him – it was paramount that he succeed in a world that screamed at her to stop. 

Obie helped. Secretly, Tony got the feeling his father's business partner only helped him for the vindictive satisfaction of guiding him into brick walls. But that was fine. Better than fine, actually. Tony thrived on the poor expectations of others, and he did so love a challenge. 

Tony became a playboy, a womaniser, a man-whore. Titles that, were he still a woman, would be pejorative, but were somehow acceptable now that he had a cock. His reputation flourished, and people were a little more forgiving of his testosterone now that he was flaunting it about, because he'd found that he only had a voice if it was the **right** voice, if his lips and tongue were saying the **right** words with the **right** inflection. 

* * *

Then: Afghanistan. Yinsen. The bold, daring escape.

Then: Iron Man. Phoenix personified. The ultimate defence mechanism.

Then: Obie's betrayal. Broken, battered heart torn from his chest. 

But he won. Tony persisted. 

Because: he was made for this.

* * *

(At his first Iron Man hearing case, Justin Hammer said, _I defer to you, **Antonia**_ , and Tony ground his teeth together so hard his jaw memorised every detail of the ache for days.)

Silver lining: he saved a kid when Hammer's duplicitous drones invaded and attacked his Stark Expo. _Nice work, kid–_ Tony said, flying away before the kid could even withdraw his overly-priced red and gold Iron Man helmet.

* * *

Spoiler alert: the kid was Spider-Man.

Spoiler alert: the kid was Peter Parker.

Spoiler alert: the kid was the man Tony would one day love.

* * *

The Avengers arose and toppled, as grandiose as the fall of Rome. Tony was betrayed and betrayed and betrayed, and his trust shattered with every false lie poisoning his ear. 

Tony recruited the kid he saved to fight the remnants of his surrogate family.

And, in the aftermath, the kid stayed.

* * *

Tony took his hormone supplements after his morning coffee, injecting pure, unadulterated testosterone straight into bloody veins. By now, he had the routine down pat. Commonplace. No more a hindrance than taking anti-anxiety medication. (And Tony would know, having first-hand experience with both.)

He'd just– never had an audience before now. Privacy was key in the days of his youth; everybody was just a little uneasy when confronted with the fact that **Tony** was an artificial construction from a biological failing. 

Tony's hands shook. Peter placed his over the top. Together, they injected.

* * *

(In the after: Peter pressed his lips to Tony’s – soft and gentle and breathtakingly tender. When he pulled back, Tony’s mouth followed.

“You’re perfect,” Peter whispered, hushed and awed, thumb brushing the pinprick of his arm.

Tony tasted the reverence straight from the source.)

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you guys all enjoyed it! :)


End file.
